How much does higher education pay in Colorado?

Where are they now? CU Boulder graduates in spring 2011 (Cliff Grassmick/Daily Camera).

For many people, the word “college” brings to mind the big four-year school with a tree-lined campus, tenured professors, football program and no shortage of psychology majors.

But when it comes to drawing a paycheck after graduation, students might be better off with a much cheaper two-year degree from a community college in a technical field.

That is one of the key takeaways of a report released Wednesday examining earnings one, five and 10 years after students earn a credential from Colorado colleges and universities. Early-career earnings of graduates with technical, career-oriented associates degrees — or even some certificate programs — can meet or exceed that of graduates with many bachelor’s degrees, according to the data.

While a bachelor’s degree will pad the bank account more at the 10-year mark, the differences compared to some lesser degrees are not so far off as you might think. Not surprisingly, what you earn a credential in has a huge bearing on earnings, no matter where you choose to study.

The findings and the Colorado Department of Higher Education’s efforts to make them widely available for public consumption are likely to rekindle a debate over the value and purpose of higher education in an era of staggering student debt and an evolving labor market.

In releasing the data in a searchable online tool called EdPays, state higher education officials are hoping to arm students and families with information to better guide their decisions, said Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia, executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education.

Joe Garcia (Denver Post file)

“I want to be real clear — We are not arguing that students should make a decision about pursuing a degree based only on earning potential,” Garcia said. “There is a lot of other value in post-secondary education that can’t be measured simply in dollars earned. But when you ask students what they most want to know, they do say they are most concerned about job prospects and earnings.”

Garcia said the survey shows there are many ways to earn a living wage, “and if you have limited resources, you might want to be very thoughtful about a subbaccalaureate degree or a certificate.” A credential in a health or manufacturing field may be what students need without the debt of a four-year degree, he said.

The trend lines show Colorado students are catching on. In the last five years, the number of associate’s degrees has more than doubled and the number of certificates has grown 30 percent. The number of bachelor’s degrees awarded grew 58 percent. Bachelor’s degrees still outnumbered subbaccalaureate degrees during that period — 32,000 to 26,000 — but the gap is narrowing.

The data covered more than 215,600 students who graduated or completed a program from 2002 to 2012 at Colorado public colleges and universities and three private schools — the University of Denver, Regis University and Colorado Christian University. Those included were identified in the state unemployment insurance wage database, employed in Colorado and earn at or above the minimum wage.

The search tool is an effort of the department and College Measures, a joint venture of the American Institutes for Research and the for-profit firm Optimity-Matrix Knowledge. The Lumina Foundation provided funding.

Among the highlights:

— The top-earning certificate holders are from fields such as Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention and Treatment Professions (think health care techs and other support for doctors and nurses); Criminal Justice and Corrections; and Fire Protection. Those in “softer” fields — Human Development, Family Studies and related services — fared poorest.

— Not all associate’s degrees are created equal. The Associate’s of Applied Science degree has far higher market value than an Associate’s in Arts or Science degree (there’s a $18,000 gap after year one and $12,000 gap after a decade). AAS graduates with degrees from three popular programs — Registered Nursing, Allied Health Diagnostics and Fire Protection — had earnings above the statewide median.

— For bachelor’s seekers, majoring in the arts will leave you poorest, and nursing the most comfortable. CU and CSU grads earned less than the statewide median of $33,091 after year one, but exceeded it in years five and 10 though not by a large margin. Among all schools in the report, graduates of the Colorado School of Mines in Golden earned far and away the most ($55,101 after one year, $90,934 after a decade). Note that tuition is also the highest of any in-state school.

Two years ago, the same partners released a similar tool, College Measures, that examined earnings just one year after completion. That drew criticism from four-year institutions that argued a longer view would show the greater worth of bachelor’s degree.

The new research supports that point, to a degree. On average, the earnings of graduates with bachelor’s degrees exceed those holding lesser credentials. But just barely. The median earnings of bachelor’s holders after 10 years was $55,287, compared to $54,146 for an associate’s of applied science and $53,940 for one of those short-term certificates.

The four-year schools do have legitimate gripes. The analysis does not include students who leave the state, and more educated people are more likely to move and could be chasing great opportunities. Neither does it include the self-employed, missing the entrepreneurial class.

Those points aside, College Measures president Mark Schneider said the most important message lies in earnings potential shy of a bachelor’s degree, especially certificates and Associate’s of Applied Science degrees in fields usually including the word “technical.”

“There are pathways to the middle class that are not through bachelor’s degrees,” Schneider said. “But when you ask students and families what do you mean by post-secondary education, they almost always say, ‘bachelor’s degrees.’ That is an addiction we need to start working on.”

Some of the biggest majors in Colorado (and in every state, for that matter) just don’t pay off much in return on investment, he said. The report dwells on the ever-popular psychology degree available at no less than 14 institutions surveyed.

The median earnings of the holders of such bachelor’s degrees are $24,221 after year one, $38,716 after year five and $44,801 after year 10. The statewide median for all bachelor’s degrees at those junctures: $33,091, $46,930 and $55,287.

The biggest payoff for earning a biology major — a core STEM subject — is using it as a ticket to get into graduate school, Schneider said. Going straight into the lab to work, not so much ($24,928 /$43,018 /$54,621).

Schneider said a good rule of thumb about success in the labor market is either learn how to fix things (technology fields) or people (health care). Some certificate fields — looking at you, cosmetology — are a bad bet.

Attending a community college in search of an AA degree with hopes of transferring to a four-year school is a common path but not the wisest, Schneider said. Many who begin that path don’t complete the community college step, or if they do don’t earn a four-year degree

While the report notes that bachelor’s degrees take more time and cost more to attain, the online tool does not provide college-hunters information on the cost of seeking a degree or certificate at the state’s institutions. For that, Higher ed costs.

Let’s say you want to go to school in Colorado Springs. Tuition and fees at CU-Springs runs around $9,000 a year. Multiply that by four. Attending Pikes Peak Community College will set you back about $4,000 a year. It takes two years to earn an associate’s degree.

You don’t need a degree in anything to know that’s quite a difference — and depending on your course of study, the difference in future earnings could be even greater.

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